Mike Harrison
wibbled on Monday 12 July 2010 22:49

On Mon, 12 Jul 2010 17:07:53 +0100, Alan wrote:

In message , The Other Mike
wrote

The local couriers used to be fantastic, DHL was 8:30 am delivery on
the dot by a woman you'd expect to see on the cover of a fashion
magazine, UPS 10:30am , Parcelforce noon to 1pm, Royal Mail postie
regular as clockwork at 2pm except when he's on holiday where
everything goes tits up (see above)

The problem with the majority of couriers around my way is the distance
to the local depot. Although I live in a village of approximately
200,000 people the nearest "local courier depot is a round trip of
30miles. With Parcelfarce it's more like 60 miles.

Parcelforce round here have recentaly started delivering to the local Post
Office when there is no reply - seems like a sensible option (and no, they
don't charge the fee that applies when you request this service)

Ditto here.

--
Tim Watts

Managers, politicians and environmentalists: Nature's carbon buffer.

In message , Mike Harrison
wrote

Parcelforce round here have recentaly started delivering to the local
Post Office when there is no
reply - seems like a sensible option (and no, they don't charge the fee
that applies when you
request this service)

They've done this to me but unfortunately the particular sub post office
they used was closed when I go to work and closed by the time I come
back home so it's not a good for me.

--
Alan
news2009 {at} admac {dot} myzen {
dot} co {dot} uk

On Mon, 12 Jul 2010 17:07:53 +0100, Alan wrote:

The problem with the majority of couriers around my way is the distance
to the local depot. Although I live in a village of approximately
200,000 people ...

200,000 is a large town not a small village! 2,000 is a town, 20 is a
small village. B-)

the nearest "local courier depot is a round trip of 30miles. With
Parcelfarce it's more like 60 miles.

Round trip of 50 to 60 miles to any of the courier depots for us.
Except perhaps Parcelforce if they use the PO local delivery office
which is only a 5 mile round trip. I've never had to visit one as
there is nearly always someone in and most drivers find somewhere to
hide a package if there isn't. Not to mention that for 2 gallons of
diesel I'd have to be in pretty dire need to justify the trip, might
combine it with something else but generally advance planning means
we are never on that tight a schedule.

--
Cheers
Dave.

"Dave Liquorice" wrote in message
ll.co.uk...
On Mon, 12 Jul 2010 17:07:53 +0100, Alan wrote:

The problem with the majority of couriers around my way is the distance
to the local depot. Although I live in a village of approximately
200,000 people ...

200,000 is a large town not a small village! 2,000 is a town, 20 is a
small village. B-)

the nearest "local courier depot is a round trip of 30miles. With
Parcelfarce it's more like 60 miles.

Round trip of 50 to 60 miles to any of the courier depots for us.
Except perhaps Parcelforce if they use the PO local delivery office
which is only a 5 mile round trip. I've never had to visit one as
there is nearly always someone in and most drivers find somewhere to
hide a package if there isn't. Not to mention that for 2 gallons of
diesel I'd have to be in pretty dire need to justify the trip, might
combine it with something else but generally advance planning means
we are never on that tight a schedule.

--
Cheers
Dave.



My bits finally arrived yesterday morning. Ordered on Friday morning,
acknowledged and dispatched by Friday lunchtime, and in a Jiffy bag. If RS
had only done the sensible thing, and sent them via Royal Mail, they would
have arrived Saturday morning. Wouldn't have mattered if it was a business
or private address. The postie could just have shoved the envelope through
the letter box. The post was here yesterday by 9am. DHL finally turned up
with my bits, at lunchtime. I was on the phone at the time, so did not
answer the door immediately. By the time I got there, the guy was ready to
leave a note, and take the package back away with him. But why ? It was a
Jiffy bag, addressed to the door that he was standing at. And that door has
a bloody great brass letterbox by the side of it. It's just stuff like this
that makes me wish that there was still some common sense in the world.
Apart from which, I'd like to see the Post Office survive, which it won't,
if all deliveries that would most sensibly make use of it, are given to
couriers.

Arfa

On Jul 11, 3:19*pm, "Arfa Daily" wrote:

challenge a brand leader such as Brain's. So interested were they in this
feedback, they didn't even bother to acknowledge my email, let alone reply
to it ... *Like with RS and Farnell, whilst they might pretend to be
interested in what customers think, it's actually only a PR 'front',

I've always found that RS and Farnell couldn't be more helpful on the
rare ocasions when something goes wrong.

MBQ

My bits finally arrived yesterday morning. Ordered on Friday morning,
acknowledged and dispatched by Friday lunchtime, and in a Jiffy bag. If
RS had only done the sensible thing, and sent them via Royal Mail, they
would have arrived Saturday morning. Wouldn't have mattered if it was a
business or private address. The postie could just have shoved the
envelope through the letter box. The post was here yesterday by 9am. DHL
finally turned up with my bits, at lunchtime. I was on the phone at the
time, so did not answer the door immediately. By the time I got there,
the guy was ready to leave a note, and take the package back away with
him. But why ? It was a Jiffy bag, addressed to the door that he was
standing at. And that door has a bloody great brass letterbox by the
side of it. It's just stuff like this that makes me wish that there was
still some common sense in the world. Apart from which, I'd like to see
the Post Office survive, which it won't, if all deliveries that would
most sensibly make use of it, are given to couriers.

Arfa

What ****es me off is not knowing whether a signature is going to be
required, and/or whether the package can be left with a neighbour. Seems
like the sender or the courier decides that with no regard for the
recipient's preferences.

On 10/07/2010 19:51, Alan wrote:

If vegetables are tasteless then cooking them in salty water only makes
them taste of salt.
Adding salt to the cooking water reduces the loss of soluble cell
contents (ie the flavour) by osmosis.

--
Reentrant

Reentrant wrote:
On 10/07/2010 19:51, Alan wrote:

If vegetables are tasteless then cooking them in salty water only makes
them taste of salt.
Adding salt to the cooking water reduces the loss of soluble cell
contents (ie the flavour) by osmosis.

I would have thought the exact reverse, frankly.

On Jul 13, 10:23*am, stuart noble wrote:
My bits finally arrived yesterday morning. Ordered on Friday morning,
acknowledged and dispatched by Friday lunchtime, and in a Jiffy bag. If
RS had only done the sensible thing, and sent them via Royal Mail, they
would have arrived Saturday morning. Wouldn't have mattered if it was a
business or private address. The postie could just have shoved the
envelope through the letter box. The post was here yesterday by 9am. DHL
finally turned up with my bits, at lunchtime. I was on the phone at the
time, so did not answer the door immediately. By the time I got there,
the guy was ready to leave a note, and take the package back away with
him. But why ? It was a Jiffy bag, addressed to the door that he was
standing at. And that door has a bloody great brass letterbox by the
side of it. It's just stuff like this that makes me wish that there was
still some common sense in the world. Apart from which, I'd like to see
the Post Office survive, which it won't, if all deliveries that would
most sensibly make use of it, are given to couriers.

Arfa

What ****es me off is not knowing whether a signature is going to be
required, and/or whether the package can be left with a neighbour. Seems
like the sender or the courier decides that with no regard for the
recipient's preferences.

So find out, rather than whinging about it here. Most courier firms
have a system of disclaimers that you have to fill in for subsequent
deliveries. One (Either Fedex or UPS I believe) carry the forms on the
van. It works for me.

MBQ

So find out, rather than whinging about it here. Most courier firms
have a system of disclaimers that you have to fill in for subsequent
deliveries. One (Either Fedex or UPS I believe) carry the forms on the
van. It works for me.


It's not for me to "find out", it's up to the supplier to provide
details of the delivery method if he wants my business.

On Jul 13, 1:26*pm, stuart noble wrote:
So find out, rather than whinging about it here. Most courier firms
have a system of disclaimers that you have to fill in for subsequent
deliveries. One (Either Fedex or UPS I believe) carry the forms on the
van. It works for me.

It's not for me to "find out", it's up to the supplier to provide
details of the delivery method if he wants my business.

shrug

Man at B&Q wrote:
On Jul 13, 1:26 pm, stuart noble wrote:
So find out, rather than whinging about it here. Most courier firms
have a system of disclaimers that you have to fill in for subsequent
deliveries. One (Either Fedex or UPS I believe) carry the forms on the
van. It works for me.
It's not for me to "find out", it's up to the supplier to provide
details of the delivery method if he wants my business.

shrug

Shrug sums up the attitude of a lot of shortly to go out of business
companies.

On 13/07/2010 11:30, The Natural Philosopher wrote:
Reentrant wrote:
On 10/07/2010 19:51, Alan wrote:

If vegetables are tasteless then cooking them in salty water only makes
them taste of salt.
Adding salt to the cooking water reduces the loss of soluble cell
contents (ie the flavour) by osmosis.

I would have thought the exact reverse, frankly.
Oops - you're right. I was thinking of reverse osmosis but that needs a
driving force. There's other effects you get with hard v soft water and
lid on/lid off with certain vegetables but I'll probably get that the
wrong way round too.

--
Reentrant

stuart noble wrote:

So find out, rather than whinging about it here. Most courier firms
have a system of disclaimers that you have to fill in for subsequent
deliveries. One (Either Fedex or UPS I believe) carry the forms on the
van. It works for me.


It's not for me to "find out", it's up to the supplier to provide
details of the delivery method if he wants my business.

Takes two to tango. If either one doesn't want the deal, its off.

No use stamping your little foot and thcweaming till you are thick,
Violet Elithabeth.

On Jul 13, 3:11*pm, stuart noble wrote:
Man at B&Q wrote:
On Jul 13, 1:26 pm, stuart noble wrote:
So find out, rather than whinging about it here. Most courier firms
have a system of disclaimers that you have to fill in for subsequent
deliveries. One (Either Fedex or UPS I believe) carry the forms on the
van. It works for me.
It's not for me to "find out", it's up to the supplier to provide
details of the delivery method if he wants my business.

shrug

Shrug sums up the attitude of a lot of shortly to go out of business
companies.

Business has never been better.

MBQ

stuart noble wrote:
Man at B&Q wrote:
On Jul 13, 1:26 pm, stuart noble wrote:
So find out, rather than whinging about it here. Most courier firms
have a system of disclaimers that you have to fill in for subsequent
deliveries. One (Either Fedex or UPS I believe) carry the forms on the
van. It works for me.
It's not for me to "find out", it's up to the supplier to provide
details of the delivery method if he wants my business.

shrug

Shrug sums up the attitude of a lot of shortly to go out of business
companies.

And customers too.

Reentrant wrote:
On 13/07/2010 11:30, The Natural Philosopher wrote:
Reentrant wrote:
On 10/07/2010 19:51, Alan wrote:

If vegetables are tasteless then cooking them in salty water only makes
them taste of salt.
Adding salt to the cooking water reduces the loss of soluble cell
contents (ie the flavour) by osmosis.

I would have thought the exact reverse, frankly.
Oops - you're right. I was thinking of reverse osmosis but that needs a
driving force. There's other effects you get with hard v soft water and
lid on/lid off with certain vegetables but I'll probably get that the
wrong way round too.

Oddly extracting the water but *leaving the flavour behind*, might make
a difference.

The Natural Philosopher wrote:
stuart noble wrote:

So find out, rather than whinging about it here. Most courier firms
have a system of disclaimers that you have to fill in for subsequent
deliveries. One (Either Fedex or UPS I believe) carry the forms on the
van. It works for me.


It's not for me to "find out", it's up to the supplier to provide
details of the delivery method if he wants my business.

Takes two to tango. If either one doesn't want the deal, its off.

No use stamping your little foot and thcweaming till you are thick,
Violet Elithabeth.

No stamping of feet. I just choose companies whose delivery method suits
my requirements and, if they can't be bothered to say in advance what
that method is, I'll use someone else. Plenty of choice. No brainer really.

Man at B&Q wrote:
On Jul 13, 3:11 pm, stuart noble wrote:
Man at B&Q wrote:
On Jul 13, 1:26 pm, stuart noble wrote:
So find out, rather than whinging about it here. Most courier firms
have a system of disclaimers that you have to fill in for subsequent
deliveries. One (Either Fedex or UPS I believe) carry the forms on the
van. It works for me.
It's not for me to "find out", it's up to the supplier to provide
details of the delivery method if he wants my business.
shrug
Shrug sums up the attitude of a lot of shortly to go out of business
companies.

Business has never been better.

MBQ

Could be better still if you got rid of the shrug.

stuart noble wrote:
The Natural Philosopher wrote:
stuart noble wrote:

So find out, rather than whinging about it here. Most courier firms
have a system of disclaimers that you have to fill in for subsequent
deliveries. One (Either Fedex or UPS I believe) carry the forms on the
van. It works for me.


It's not for me to "find out", it's up to the supplier to provide
details of the delivery method if he wants my business.

Takes two to tango. If either one doesn't want the deal, its off.

No use stamping your little foot and thcweaming till you are thick,
Violet Elithabeth.

No stamping of feet. I just choose companies whose delivery method suits
my requirements and, if they can't be bothered to say in advance what
that method is, I'll use someone else. Plenty of choice. No brainer really.
lucky you that such choices exist.

"Man at B&Q" wrote in message
...
On Jul 11, 3:19 pm, "Arfa Daily" wrote:

challenge a brand leader such as Brain's. So interested were they in this
feedback, they didn't even bother to acknowledge my email, let alone
reply
to it ... Like with RS and Farnell, whilst they might pretend to be
interested in what customers think, it's actually only a PR 'front',

I've always found that RS and Farnell couldn't be more helpful on the
rare ocasions when something goes wrong.

MBQ

Yes, they are quite helpful when something goes wrong, but from time to
time, you will get a phone call from your 'account manager' or whatever they
call themselves, and they will ask if everything is ok and if there's
anything that they can help you with. On several occasions, I have brought
up the apparent disparities between shipping methods and size of packages
and signatures and not knowing when a parcel is going to arrive and so on.
But actually, all they want to hear is that everything is fine, and how well
they are doing. You can see their eyes glazing over on the other end of the
phone, and their finger hovering over the "call the next punter" button ...
:-|

Arfa

In message %fW_n.157473$NM4.150841@hurricane, stuart noble
writes

My bits finally arrived yesterday morning. Ordered on Friday morning,
acknowledged and dispatched by Friday lunchtime, and in a Jiffy bag.
If RS had only done the sensible thing, and sent them via Royal Mail,
they would have arrived Saturday morning. Wouldn't have mattered if
it was a business or private address. The postie could just have
shoved the envelope through the letter box. The post was here
yesterday by 9am. DHL finally turned up with my bits, at lunchtime. I
was on the phone at the time, so did not answer the door immediately.
By the time I got there, the guy was ready to leave a note, and take
the package back away with him. But why ? It was a Jiffy bag,
addressed to the door that he was standing at. And that door has a
bloody great brass letterbox by the side of it. It's just stuff like
this that makes me wish that there was still some common sense in the
I'd like to see the Post Office survive, which it won't, if all
deliveries that would most sensibly make use of it, are given to
couriers.
Arfa

What ****es me off is not knowing whether a signature is going to be
required, and/or whether the package can be left with a neighbour.
Seems like the sender or the courier decides that with no regard for
the recipient's preferences.

Its quite simple - the recipient's preferences have nothing to do with
it as far as the courier is concerned

The contract is between the sender and the courier who needs to have, if
required by the sender, proof of delivery

I always get the customer to state that there will be someone at the
delivery address OR a contingency plan (e.g. leave in porch) if not.

--
geoff

In message uXY_n.240740$w51.13139@hurricane, stuart noble
writes

So find out, rather than whinging about it here. Most courier firms
have a system of disclaimers that you have to fill in for subsequent
deliveries. One (Either Fedex or UPS I believe) carry the forms on the
van. It works for me.


It's not for me to "find out", it's up to the supplier to provide
details of the delivery method if he wants my business.


Really, the sender should establish delivery with the customer

And I think you should drop that stupid "if he wants my business" - it's
not always your choice to have

--
geoff

In message lu__n.225124$k15.97328@hurricane, stuart noble
writes
Man at B&Q wrote:
On Jul 13, 1:26 pm, stuart noble wrote:
So find out, rather than whinging about it here. Most courier firms
have a system of disclaimers that you have to fill in for subsequent
deliveries. One (Either Fedex or UPS I believe) carry the forms on the
van. It works for me.
It's not for me to "find out", it's up to the supplier to provide
details of the delivery method if he wants my business.
shrug

Shrug sums up the attitude of a lot of shortly to go out of business
companies.

Really, I think you have a rather elevated sense of self importance in
this regard

Believe it or not, not every company is waiting on your phone call to
survive the day

--
geoff

In message Ou%_n.142136$wi5.92064@hurricane, stuart noble
writes
Man at B&Q wrote:
On Jul 13, 3:11 pm, stuart noble wrote:
Man at B&Q wrote:
On Jul 13, 1:26 pm, stuart noble wrote:
So find out, rather than whinging about it here. Most courier firms
have a system of disclaimers that you have to fill in for subsequent
deliveries. One (Either Fedex or UPS I believe) carry the forms on the
van. It works for me.
It's not for me to "find out", it's up to the supplier to provide
details of the delivery method if he wants my business.
shrug
Shrug sums up the attitude of a lot of shortly to go out of business
companies.
Business has never been better.
MBQ

Could be better still if you got rid of the shrug.

No - there are some customers who it's just better to do without

its not always just about the money

If a customer insists on being a ****, I'm quite happy to tell them to
go elsewhere. Of course, that involves them finding the elusive
"elsewhere". They stand to lose out and I don't need the custom

--
geoff

In message , The Natural Philosopher
writes
stuart noble wrote:
The Natural Philosopher wrote:
stuart noble wrote:

So find out, rather than whinging about it here. Most courier firms
have a system of disclaimers that you have to fill in for subsequent
deliveries. One (Either Fedex or UPS I believe) carry the forms on the
van. It works for me.


It's not for me to "find out", it's up to the supplier to provide
details of the delivery method if he wants my business.

Takes two to tango. If either one doesn't want the deal, its off.

No use stamping your little foot and thcweaming till you are thick,
Violet Elithabeth.
No stamping of feet. I just choose companies whose delivery method
suits my requirements and, if they can't be bothered to say in
advance what that method is, I'll use someone else. Plenty of choice.
No brainer really.
lucky you that such choices exist.

sometimes

--
geoff

geoff wrote:
In message %fW_n.157473$NM4.150841@hurricane, stuart noble
writes

My bits finally arrived yesterday morning. Ordered on Friday morning,
acknowledged and dispatched by Friday lunchtime, and in a Jiffy bag.
If RS had only done the sensible thing, and sent them via Royal
Mail, they would have arrived Saturday morning. Wouldn't have
mattered if it was a business or private address. The postie could
just have shoved the envelope through the letter box. The post was
here yesterday by 9am. DHL finally turned up with my bits, at
lunchtime. I was on the phone at the time, so did not answer the
door immediately. By the time I got there, the guy was ready to
leave a note, and take the package back away with him. But why ? It
was a Jiffy bag, addressed to the door that he was standing at. And
that door has a bloody great brass letterbox by the side of it. It's
just stuff like this that makes me wish that there was still some
common sense in the I'd like to see the Post Office survive, which
it won't, if all deliveries that would most sensibly make use of it,
are given to couriers.
Arfa

What ****es me off is not knowing whether a signature is going to be
required, and/or whether the package can be left with a neighbour.
Seems like the sender or the courier decides that with no regard for
the recipient's preferences.

Its quite simple - the recipient's preferences have nothing to do with
it as far as the courier is concerned

The contract is between the sender and the courier who needs to have, if
required by the sender, proof of delivery

I always get the customer to state that there will be someone at the
delivery address OR a contingency plan (e.g. leave in porch) if not.


Fine. I ask for no more than that. What I won't do is wait in all day,
or drive to some distant depot to collect, when I am quite prepared to
have it delivered a neighbour or left in the porch. If the sender's
arrangements with the courier are not sufficiently flexible to
accommodate my wishes, then I look elsewhere. If there's no alternative,
I have to put up with it, but it hasn't happened yet.

stuart noble wrote:
geoff wrote:
In message %fW_n.157473$NM4.150841@hurricane, stuart noble
writes

My bits finally arrived yesterday morning. Ordered on Friday
morning, acknowledged and dispatched by Friday lunchtime, and in a
Jiffy bag. If RS had only done the sensible thing, and sent them
via Royal Mail, they would have arrived Saturday morning. Wouldn't
have mattered if it was a business or private address. The postie
could just have shoved the envelope through the letter box. The
post was here yesterday by 9am. DHL finally turned up with my bits,
at lunchtime. I was on the phone at the time, so did not answer the
door immediately. By the time I got there, the guy was ready to
leave a note, and take the package back away with him. But why ? It
was a Jiffy bag, addressed to the door that he was standing at. And
that door has a bloody great brass letterbox by the side of it.
It's just stuff like this that makes me wish that there was still
some common sense in the I'd like to see the Post Office survive,
which it won't, if all deliveries that would most sensibly make use
of it, are given to couriers.
Arfa

What ****es me off is not knowing whether a signature is going to be
required, and/or whether the package can be left with a neighbour.
Seems like the sender or the courier decides that with no regard for
the recipient's preferences.

Its quite simple - the recipient's preferences have nothing to do with
it as far as the courier is concerned

The contract is between the sender and the courier who needs to have,
if required by the sender, proof of delivery

I always get the customer to state that there will be someone at the
delivery address OR a contingency plan (e.g. leave in porch) if not.


Fine. I ask for no more than that. What I won't do is wait in all day,
or drive to some distant depot to collect, when I am quite prepared to
have it delivered a neighbour or left in the porch. If the sender's
arrangements with the courier are not sufficiently flexible to
accommodate my wishes, then I look elsewhere. If there's no alternative,
I have to put up with it, but it hasn't happened yet.

What every cutsomer wants, of course, is exactly the same as every
supplier wants: a parcel delivery service that delivers *intact* parcels
at whatever time of the day the person expecting them is in, that is
tracked to within 20 meters by GPS at all times, and costs 50P, and
reaches every part of the world in 48 hours, without attracting customs
or requiring hours of form filling.

When you find such. let me know, and I will switch all of our deliveries
to it.

Meantime in the real world, its a total compromise. People want tracking
and signing, to know where there stuff is, and to know that it has
arrived, so they don't get claims against them for non shipment. Yes,
about 1% of customers do just that. Some want it delivered to their
homes, out of hours. Some want it delivered to work, so their
wives/husbands don't find out how much they have spent..or what they
have spent it on..and of course they want it for peanuts.




..

The Natural Philosopher wrote:
stuart noble wrote:
geoff wrote:
In message %fW_n.157473$NM4.150841@hurricane, stuart noble
writes

My bits finally arrived yesterday morning. Ordered on Friday
morning, acknowledged and dispatched by Friday lunchtime, and in a
Jiffy bag. If RS had only done the sensible thing, and sent them
via Royal Mail, they would have arrived Saturday morning. Wouldn't
have mattered if it was a business or private address. The postie
could just have shoved the envelope through the letter box. The
post was here yesterday by 9am. DHL finally turned up with my
bits, at lunchtime. I was on the phone at the time, so did not
answer the door immediately. By the time I got there, the guy was
ready to leave a note, and take the package back away with him. But
why ? It was a Jiffy bag, addressed to the door that he was
standing at. And that door has a bloody great brass letterbox by
the side of it. It's just stuff like this that makes me wish that
there was still some common sense in the I'd like to see the Post
Office survive, which it won't, if all deliveries that would most
sensibly make use of it, are given to couriers.
Arfa

What ****es me off is not knowing whether a signature is going to be
required, and/or whether the package can be left with a neighbour.
Seems like the sender or the courier decides that with no regard for
the recipient's preferences.

Its quite simple - the recipient's preferences have nothing to do
with it as far as the courier is concerned

The contract is between the sender and the courier who needs to have,
if required by the sender, proof of delivery

I always get the customer to state that there will be someone at the
delivery address OR a contingency plan (e.g. leave in porch) if not.


Fine. I ask for no more than that. What I won't do is wait in all day,
or drive to some distant depot to collect, when I am quite prepared to
have it delivered a neighbour or left in the porch. If the sender's
arrangements with the courier are not sufficiently flexible to
accommodate my wishes, then I look elsewhere. If there's no
alternative, I have to put up with it, but it hasn't happened yet.

What every cutsomer wants, of course, is exactly the same as every
supplier wants: a parcel delivery service that delivers *intact* parcels
at whatever time of the day the person expecting them is in, that is
tracked to within 20 meters by GPS at all times, and costs 50P, and
reaches every part of the world in 48 hours, without attracting customs
or requiring hours of form filling.

When you find such. let me know, and I will switch all of our deliveries
to it.

Meantime in the real world, its a total compromise. People want tracking
and signing, to know where there stuff is, and to know that it has
arrived, so they don't get claims against them for non shipment. Yes,
about 1% of customers do just that. Some want it delivered to their
homes, out of hours. Some want it delivered to work, so their
wives/husbands don't find out how much they have spent..or what they
have spent it on..and of course they want it for peanuts.




.
All I ask is that suppliers give details of how the item will be
delivered before I place the order. Is that too much to ask?

On Jul 13, 4:20*pm, stuart noble wrote:
Man at B&Q wrote:
On Jul 13, 3:11 pm, stuart noble wrote:
Man at B&Q wrote:
On Jul 13, 1:26 pm, stuart noble wrote:
So find out, rather than whinging about it here. Most courier firms
have a system of disclaimers that you have to fill in for subsequent
deliveries. One (Either Fedex or UPS I believe) carry the forms on the
van. It works for me.
It's not for me to "find out", it's up to the supplier to provide
details of the delivery method if he wants my business.
shrug
Shrug sums up the attitude of a lot of shortly to go out of business
companies.

Business has never been better.

MBQ

Could be better still if you got rid of the shrug.

i doubt it. I care about my business and my customers. The shrug was
for people who can't be bothered to help themselves.

MBQ

On Jul 13, 7:54*pm, geoff wrote:
In message %fW_n.157473$NM4.150841@hurricane, stuart noble
writes





My bits finally arrived yesterday morning. Ordered on Friday morning,
acknowledged and dispatched by Friday lunchtime, and in a Jiffy bag.
If *RS had only done the sensible thing, and sent them via Royal Mail,
they *would have arrived Saturday morning. Wouldn't have mattered if
it was a *business or private address. The postie could just have
shoved the *envelope through the letter box. The post was here
yesterday by 9am. DHL *finally turned up with my bits, at lunchtime. I
was on the phone at the *time, so did not answer the door immediately..
By the time I got there, *the guy was ready to leave a note, and take
the package back away with him. But why ? It was a Jiffy bag,
addressed to the door that he was *standing at. And that door has a
bloody great brass letterbox by the *side of it. It's just stuff like
this that makes me wish that there was *still some common sense in the
I'd like to see *the Post Office survive, which it won't, if all
deliveries that would *most sensibly make use of it, are given to
couriers.
*Arfa

What ****es me off is not knowing whether a signature is going to be
required, and/or whether the package can be left with a neighbour.
Seems like the sender or the courier decides that with no regard for
the recipient's preferences.

Its quite simple - the recipient's preferences have nothing to do with
it as far as the courier is concerned

Quite simply wrong. At least two courier companies follow *my* written
instructions as to what to do when no one is in.

MBQ

"stuart noble" wrote in message
news:Gul_n.148475$_F1.11776@hurricane...
geoff wrote:
In message kOj_n.156784$tH4.149064@hurricane, stuart noble
writes
tony sayer wrote:
All of the component companies have always done nonsense like that,
but I think that is more down to the morons employed in dispatch,
rather than company policy. RS, and Farnell for that matter, used to
send out small items by Royal Mail, in a Jiffy bag, by default, and
for the most part, the bits arrived in the post, at a predictable
time, the next morning when you needed them, and undamaged.
Couldn't agree more with you Arfa totally on the nail;!...

The shipping policies that both of these companies have now, for the
most part preclude this ever happening any more, and it is unhelpful
to all concerned, including them, because if I can find an alternative
supplier for my orders each time, who will ship them Royal Mail, then
they will get the order, irrespective of whether they are a few
pennies dearer, or charge for shipping.
Yes you can tell them that, but the reply usually is Oh' dear!, your
the
only one who's had that problem/complained;(...

If a company, large or small, can't muster the resources to send
something out by first class post, they're probably not very resourceful
in other areas of their business either.

Simply not true

I don't use the postal service because there is no "buck stops here"
person I can get straight through to and deal with

If I send out to a customer with royal mail and it disappears, they don't
want to freeze to death for 30 days while waiting to see if itr has
turned up.

I need to be dealing with companies who can deal with problems quickly
and efficiently

In the winter, we are flat out working, there is no mileage to be gained
in saving a customer maybe a couple of quid at a cost to us of probably
£50 or more

I think you need to reassess your idea of how companies function


But we're talking here about offering customers the option of sending
small, probably low cost, components out by post. If somebody's boiler pcb
gets lost, that's another matter and, as you say, it isn't worth trying to
save a couple of quid.

OK. So here's today's one. Some more small parts ordered this time from
Farnell (no other stockist option). Order placed yesterday morning,
acknowledgement and dispatch verification emails received by early
afternoon. Parts arrived this morning, 9:45 am, in a Jiffy bag, through my
letter box without needing a signature, and delivered by .....

TA-RA !! Royal Mail

So these places can do it if they try. That use of Royal Mail was not as a
result of any special request by me, but clearly someone, somewhere in their
dispatch department, determined that it was a better option, in this case
for this package, to use them over UPS. But all this actually serves to
tell us, is that they still have a Royal Mail collection, and have not
turned everything over to courier delivery despite how it appears, but that
they actually have no logical or cohesive policy in place, as to which
service gets used by default, for which packages.

Arfa

geoff wrote:
In message Ou%_n.142136$wi5.92064@hurricane, stuart noble
writes
Man at B&Q wrote:
On Jul 13, 3:11 pm, stuart noble wrote:
Man at B&Q wrote:
On Jul 13, 1:26 pm, stuart noble wrote:
So find out, rather than whinging about it here. Most courier firms
have a system of disclaimers that you have to fill in for subsequent
deliveries. One (Either Fedex or UPS I believe) carry the forms
on the
van. It works for me.
It's not for me to "find out", it's up to the supplier to provide
details of the delivery method if he wants my business.
shrug
Shrug sums up the attitude of a lot of shortly to go out of business
companies.
Business has never been better.
MBQ

Could be better still if you got rid of the shrug.

No - there are some customers who it's just better to do without

its not always just about the money

If a customer insists on being a ****, I'm quite happy to tell them to
go elsewhere. Of course, that involves them finding the elusive
"elsewhere". They stand to lose out and I don't need the custom

And what do they have to do to be viewed as a ****? I trust wanting to
know how, and by whom, the item will be delivered doesn't count.

On Wed, 14 Jul 2010 10:16:56 +0100, stuart noble wrote:

All I ask is that suppliers give details of how the item will be
delivered before I place the order. Is that too much to ask?

Yes.
--
Peter.
2x4 - thick plank; 4x4 - two of 'em.

stuart noble
wibbled on Wednesday 14 July 2010 10:36


And what do they have to do to be viewed as a ****? I trust wanting to
know how, and by whom, the item will be delivered doesn't count.

Certainly in the "old days" I've wasted a whole day waiting for a courier
who couldn't be arsed to even manage to give an AM vs PM slot.

First thing they need is a central common registry of generic recipient
instructions to leave the package with a neighbour, behind the plant, local-
ish communual drop point or return to depot. That would save all the one
time special instructions or trying to set up standing instructions with
courier firms you've not even heard of until some supplier starts to use
them!

What they could also do reasonably easily (technology wise) would be to have
the van linked up by cell-modem to the central dispatch computer and the
van's GPS.

Therefore, the central computer knows the contents of the van (already does
AFAIK) and where the van is.

With just the GPS data and a reasonable guess at the van route (even better,
the computer controls the van route optimally) the computer can take a
flying guess how many drops there are until your address and the mileage
required, therefore how long. This estimate gets better as the van gets
closer.

Now you have the means to track your package with a time-to-arrive estimate.
Let the recipient request on line to be emailed, texted or whatever when the
TTD drops below a user chosen value (eg 5 minutes or 1 hour). Now the poor
sod can go and do something without fear of missing the bloke.

Supermarkets have got it right with the ability to book a 1 hour (some 2
hour) wide slots.

Whilst I appreciate that supermarkets generally have a van containing
relatively few high value orders (so drop time can be predicted well in
advance) I do find *all* of the couriers to be living in the Jurassic age
with sod all regard for their second tier "customers" (the recipient).

Ocado manage this between 6am to 11:30pm in 1 hour slots for a delivery
charge between £6.99 to nothing depending on the time. Not only that, they
even text me to tell me what's out of stock (hardly every anything) and what
the driver's name and van reg is! (Not that I care about that bit)


--
Tim Watts

Managers, politicians and environmentalists: Nature's carbon buffer.

On Wed, 14 Jul 2010 11:56:06 +0100, Tim Watts wrote:

Ocado manage this between 6am to 11:30pm in 1 hour slots for a delivery
charge between £6.99 to nothing depending on the time. Not only that,
they even text me to tell me what's out of stock (hardly every anything)
and what the driver's name and van reg is! (Not that I care about that
bit)

Yes, we find them very good. We usually use a late Saturday slot, and the
driver often phones to see if we'll be in earlier (he's usually parked
round the corner). Obviously helps him, but if we're not, he'll wait
until the slot.

When sending the odd item, I've used Collect+, part of HDN. I know they
aren't marvellous, but drop off and collection is via a local convenience
store...

(just heard on the radio that Royal Mail are going to do selected late
opening of delivery offices; doesn't matter to me as it's only round the
corner and I can 'flex' my work hours to suit).


--
Use the BIG mirror service in the UK:
http://www.mirrorservice.org

*lightning protection* - a w_tom conductor

On Jul 14, 10:27*am, "Arfa Daily" wrote:
"stuart noble" wrote in message

news:Gul_n.148475$_F1.11776@hurricane...



geoff wrote:
In message kOj_n.156784$tH4.149064@hurricane, stuart noble
writes
tony sayer wrote:
All of the component companies have always done nonsense like that,
but I *think that is more down to the morons employed in dispatch,
rather than *company policy. RS, and Farnell for that matter, used to
send out small *items by Royal Mail, in a Jiffy bag, by default, and
for the most part, the *bits arrived in the post, at a predictable
time, the next morning when you *needed them, and undamaged.
*Couldn't agree more with you Arfa totally on the nail;!...

The shipping policies that both of these *companies have now, for the
most part preclude this ever happening any more, *and it is unhelpful
to all concerned, including them, because if I can find an alternative
supplier for my orders each time, who will ship them Royal *Mail, then
they will get the order, irrespective of whether they are a few
pennies dearer, or charge for shipping.
*Yes you can tell them that, but the reply usually is Oh' dear!, your
the
only one who's had that problem/complained;(...

If a company, large or small, can't muster the resources to send
something out by first class post, they're probably not very resourceful
in other areas of their business either.

Simply not true

I don't use the postal service because there is no "buck stops here"
person I can get straight through to and deal with

If I send out to a customer with royal mail and it disappears, they don't
want to freeze to death for 30 days while waiting to see if itr has
turned up.

I need to be dealing with companies who can deal with problems quickly
and efficiently

In the winter, we are flat out working, there is no mileage to be gained
in saving a customer maybe a couple of quid at a cost to us of probably
£50 or more

I think you need to reassess your idea of how companies function

But we're talking here about offering customers the option of sending
small, probably low cost, components out by post. If somebody's boiler pcb
gets lost, that's another matter and, as you say, it isn't worth trying to
save a couple of quid.

OK. So here's today's one. Some more small parts ordered this time from
Farnell (no other stockist option). Order placed yesterday morning,
acknowledgement and dispatch verification emails received by early
afternoon. Parts arrived this morning, 9:45 am, in a Jiffy bag, through my
letter box without needing a signature, and delivered by .....

TA-RA !! * *Royal Mail

So these places can do it if they try. That use of Royal Mail was not as a
result of any special request by me, but clearly someone, somewhere in their
dispatch department, determined that it was a better option, in this case
for this package, to use them over UPS. *But all this actually serves to
tell us, is that they still have a Royal Mail collection, and have not
turned everything over to courier delivery despite how it appears, but that
they actually have no logical or cohesive policy in place, as to which
service gets used by default, for which packages.

It's all to do with relative pricing structures of RM and courier,
together with the value of the consignment. Rapid do it by size and
weight. The limits used to be that if it was under 1kg in weight AND
worth less than £60 it went by first class post, otherwise by courier.
These quantities may have changed.

MBQ

On Wed, 14 Jul 2010 11:56:06 +0100, Tim Watts wrote:
stuart noble
wibbled on Wednesday 14 July 2010 10:36


And what do they have to do to be viewed as a ****? I trust wanting to
know how, and by whom, the item will be delivered doesn't count.

Certainly in the "old days" I've wasted a whole day waiting for a courier
who couldn't be arsed to even manage to give an AM vs PM slot.

First thing they need ...

big snip

Ocado manage this between 6am to 11:30pm in 1 hour slots for a delivery
charge between £6.99 to nothing depending on the time. Not only that, they
even text me to tell me what's out of stock (hardly every anything) and what
the driver's name and van reg is! (Not that I care about that bit)

That's all very good, but never forget that the _supplier_ has the contract
with the courier, not the addressee. Although Ocado have chosen to position
themselves with branded vans, and that the delivery is "all part of the service"
most supliers of electronics and most other goods don't appear to view it
like that. Since the suppliers own the delivery contract, they are more concerned
with delivery costs and where they feel there is a need for timeliness, offer
an extra cost option that you are free to take up.
What your scheme needs to take into account is how many people would be willing
to pay the premium for this? And since all their vans would have to participate
(as you couldn't run 2 fleets - one with realtime GPS tracking to the customer
and one without) would the additional business be enough to pay the costs?

--
www.thisreallyismyhost.99k.org

Tim Watts wrote:
stuart noble
wibbled on Wednesday 14 July 2010 10:36


And what do they have to do to be viewed as a ****? I trust wanting to
know how, and by whom, the item will be delivered doesn't count.

Certainly in the "old days" I've wasted a whole day waiting for a courier
who couldn't be arsed to even manage to give an AM vs PM slot.

First thing they need is a central common registry of generic recipient
instructions to leave the package with a neighbour, behind the plant, local-
ish communual drop point or return to depot.

Excellent data-mining opportunity for scumbags...

Wouldn't get my vote, I'm afraid.

In message , Tim Watts
writes
stuart noble
wibbled on Wednesday 14 July 2010 10:36


And what do they have to do to be viewed as a ****? I trust wanting to
know how, and by whom, the item will be delivered doesn't count.

Certainly in the "old days" I've wasted a whole day waiting for a courier
who couldn't be arsed to even manage to give an AM vs PM slot.


snip
With just the GPS data and a reasonable guess at the van route (even better,
the computer controls the van route optimally) the computer can take a
flying guess how many drops there are until your address and the mileage
required, therefore how long. This estimate gets better as the van gets
closer.

Now you have the means to track your package with a time-to-arrive estimate.
Let the recipient request on line to be emailed, texted or whatever when the
TTD drops below a user chosen value (eg 5 minutes or 1 hour). Now the poor
sod can go and do something without fear of missing the bloke.

snip

Whilst I appreciate that supermarkets generally have a van containing
relatively few high value orders (so drop time can be predicted well in
advance) I do find *all* of the couriers to be living in the Jurassic age
with sod all regard for their second tier "customers" (the recipient).

I guess the question is not so much can they do it - the technology is
already there of course, but is the extra costs (to the courier, the
supplier and hence the customer) worth it? But really, is all the
realtime tracking and stuff entirely necessary. Once the van has it's
load, then delivery times can be predicted. Though I'm guessing at least
some of the courier companies have GPS tracking stuff in the vans
already.

Though I notice DPD seem to now have a system for a giving a 1 hour
window for delivery. We had something delivered by them recently and I
got an email in the morning at about 8 saying it would be delivered
between 09.53 and 10.53. Presumably once the vans load is allocated and
the route planned giving a 1 hour window isn't that hard to do, and for
most situations is plenty precise enough and will take account of most
traffic holdups. i don't know if they update the time at all,presumably
it's an extra cost option for the supplier? (this was an urgent
redelivery of an item which was ent out incorrectly the first time)



--
Chris French